San Lorenzo Valley Water district tables merger

Boulder Creek >> The San Lorenzo Valley Water District board Thursday asked for more from the potential merger with Lompico Water District.

"(The merge) may be the right answer; this may be the right option," said Chairwoman Margaret Bruce during Thursday's meeting. "But I would like to make sure our rate payers have an understanding about what was considered and why it was taken off the table."

While the board could have approved the matter, it hesitated to move forward to allow San Lorenzo customers to express their opinion and consider the matter.

If approved, the merger would dissolve the Lompico district and allow its roughly 500 customers to be annexed into the San Lorenzo district. The discussion of the potential merger with Lompico comes four years after the two entities began talks on the matter and two days after the Lompico board approved the merger on its end.

The board tabled the matter until a May 22 special meeting to allow the public to comment to discuss more details of the merger.

Since August, Lompico has endured drought conditions and a declining well water productions. In January, the state named the water district as one of 17 rural communities that could run out of water within 60 to 120 days.

On Monday, one of three wells in Lompico failed but is expected to be fixed, according to Lompico district officials. A $152,000 emergency intertie between the districts is expected to be completed by the end of April. Once in place, the emergency intertie will allow San Lorenzo to sell water to Lompico customers at a flat rate.

The discussion comes at a time when there is a severe drought in the county and state, with municipalities encouraging residents to cut back and even imposing mandatory water rationing in future months.

That point wasn't lost upon the board.

"We're in a wider water crisis throughout the state right now, which makes this much more complicated," said Board member Larry Prather, adding that helping Lompico is the good neighbor and community oriented thing to do.

Prather pointed out that 500 would be a relatively small percent increase to the 7,300 customers served by San Lorenzo.

Board member Terry Vierra was more hesitant, voicing concern over the merge and the stress it would put on the shoulders of the district already working through a drought.

It's essential for customers to have full disclosure and be able to comment fully on potential annexation before the application is approved, said Vierra, garnering applause from the audience.

More than two dozen customers from the San Lorenzo and Lompico districts attended the meeting to voice their opinions. San Lorenzo customers approved the board's move to schedule a special meeting about the merger, saying it was a move toward more transparency.

Lois Henry, president for the Lompico board, asked her San Lorenzo counterparts to proceed on the matter given that discussions of the merger began in 2010.

If San Lorenzo approves the merge, the matter is slated to go in front of the Santa Cruz Local Agency Formation Commission, a boundary commission, for consideration and approval, according to officials. The commission is slated to hold a public hearing on the merger later this year.

In addition to pending approval from the San Lorenzo board and LAFCO, the move faces two more potential obstacles: A $2.75 million bond measure to be voted on and a possible protest by Lompico customers. With the protest, customers will have an opportunity to protest the dissolution of their district by letters or petition. Protests by more than 50 percent terminates the merger. Protests of 25 percent or more triggers a vote on the matter.

As far as the bond measure goes, property owners will have to vote to approve it. Funds from the bond would go toward improving the aging water infrastructure in Lompico and be paid off by Lompico customers over 30 years.